What is RAID and do I need it for my home computer?
I keep hearing about RAID arrays when people talk about building PCs. Something about mirroring and striping? My motherboard supports RAID 0 and RAID 1. What's the difference? Will RAID make my computer faster? Is it for backup or performance? I have two 80GB hard drives — should I set them up in RAID?
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Check how much free space is on your hard drive. Windows needs at least 15% free to run well — it uses that space for virtual memory and the swap file. If your drive is 95% full, that alone will make everything crawl.
3 Answers
Check how much free space is on your hard drive. Windows needs at least 15% free to run well — it uses that space for virtual memory and the swap file. If your drive is 95% full, that alone will make everything crawl.
I'd recommend trying the free solution first before spending money. Nine times out of ten, the free option works just as well as the paid one. Only upgrade to paid software if the free version doesn't meet your needs.
I always tell people: buy a UPS battery backup. A $40 one will protect your PC from power surges and brownouts that slowly kill your hardware. Lost a motherboard to a thunderstorm once. Never again.
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